Breadcrumb Trail Links

Gushue wins third Brier as Bottcher falls in final for third straight year

Author of the article:

Ted Wyman

Publishing date:

March 9, 2020 • 6 minute read

Newfoundland and Labrador skip Brad Gushue celebrates his teams' 7-3 win over Alberta during the final of the 2020 Tim Hortons Brier in Kingston on Sunday March 8, 2020.Ian MacAlpine/ Kingston Whig-Standard/ Postmedia Network

Article Sidebar

Share this Story: Gushue wins third Brier as Bottcher falls in final for third straight year

Gushue wins third Brier as Bottcher falls in final for third straight yearBack to video

Gushue had to come the long way to win it — beating world No. 1 Brad Jacobs in the 3-4 playoff game on Saturday and then topping Saskatchewan’s Matt Dunstone 7-6 in Sunday’s semifinal — before taking down Bottcher in the final for the second time in three years.

“Friggin awesome … it feels absolutely incredible,” Gushue said moments after securing the victory with a hit for one point in the 10th end.

“To win in this field, which I believe is probably the strongest field I’ve certainly played in out of 17 Briers, and to come through and play the way we did today, that’s special to play our best game in the final.”

Advertisement

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Article content continued

Gushue, 39, third Mark Nichols, 40, second Brett Gallant, 30, and lead Geoff Walker, 34, will represent Canada at the world men’s curling championship in Glasgow, Scotland, March 28-April 5. The foursome won the world championship in 2017 and took silver at the worlds in 2018.

So, is this a dynasty building out of St. John’s?

“That’s for you guys to decide,” said Gushue, who was named most valuable player of the Brier. “We’ve been in four out of the last five finals so we’ve been playing pretty good at this event, but it’s just fun to win this, I don’t think about all that other stuff. What an incredible week. We played so well.”

Advertisement

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Article content continued

It was the third straight Brier final loss for Bottcher and his Edmonton teammates Darren Moulding, Brad Thiessen and Karrick Martin, a foursome that has suffered far more than its fair share of heartbreak despite being one of the world’s best teams since 2018.

Alberta went 10-1 in the round-robin, beat Saskatchewan’s Matt Dunstone in the 1-2 Page playoff game on Saturday night and had hammer in the first end of the final against Gushue, but simply could not capitalize.

Gushue was great all week as well, going 8-3 in the round robin and 3-0 in the playoffs to stand atop the podium.

He curled 97% in the final, while his team came in at 86% overall.

Advertisement

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Article content continued

Bottcher, unfortunately, curled only 71%, easily his worst game of what had been a great week.

“We just got off to a bit of a slow start, didn’t play our best early and you can’t give that big of a lead to those guys,” an incredibly stoic Bottcher said.

“We did everything we needed to do to be ready, we just didn’t come out and play our best. Brad played great. We gave him some pretty easy shots. Me and the guys needed to shoot a little bit better.”

Moulding was much more emotional after suffering through the Brier’s version of Groundhog Day once again and still not getting it right.

“I’m starting to get older so I don’t know how many times I’m gonna be able to get back here,” Moulding said, choking back tears. “I’m just proud of the guys. I just wish it would have turned out different. I know we can play a lot better than that.”

Advertisement

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Article content continued

For Gushue, it was a terrific culmination of an epic Brier, which featured tremendous shot-making from an elite field, stellar fan support, and a perfect setting — beautiful and lively downtown Kingston.

A total of 96,076 fans filled the building throughout the week at the 5,700-seat Leon’s Centre.

Even the most experienced curlers — Gushue was playing in his 17th Brier — pegged this as one of the greatest Briers of all-time, which is saying something considering all the great curlers and host locations that have come before.

“All the teams here played incredible and the ice was so good that you felt like if you missed a half shot you could lose the game,” Gushue said. “Today I don’t think we missed that half shot. “

Advertisement

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Article content continued

It was a very lucrative win for the Gushue team, as they took home the top prize of $105,000, earned almost $170,000 in Sport Canada funding for the next two years, booked a berth in the 2021 Olympic Curling Trials, earned a spot in the Grand Slam Champions Cup, and get to wear Team Canada colours at both the worlds this year and the Brier in Kelowna, B.C. next year.

It was Gushue’s first tournament win of any kind in 18 months.

“This is a good one to break the seal, for sure,” he said. “We finally got off the wagon where we were on where we were losing a bunch of finals and semifinals. It’s nice to actually come through and perform the way we’re capable of performing in big moments.”

Advertisement

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Article content continued

Nichols has played in 16 Briers himself and now will wear Team Canada colours for the third time and he couldn’t stop raving about the quality of this year’s championship.

“This was as good or better than any curling I’ve ever been a part of,” he said. “The shot-making is next level. If we didn’t make the shots, we’re sitting at home watching. Credit to the whole team. We didn’t give up on any rocks, we played every game right to the end and Brad played unbelievable.:

Bottcher started with the advantage of hammer — something he did not have in the previous two finals — but he was unable to take advantage of it as Gushue made a great hit-and-roll behind cover with his last rock of the first end and Bottcher flashed on his blank attempt.

Advertisement

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Article content continued

The team which starts with hammer wins about 70% of games at the highest level of men’s curling, but that percentage switches around when the team that starts without hammer gets a steal in the first.

Bottcher wound up tying the game by drawing for one in the second, but Gushue changed everything by playing a double for a three-point lead he would never relinquish.

At that point in the game, Bottcher was curling just 50%, while Gushue was at 100% and the score reflected it.

From then on Gushue kept the pressure up, made the big shots when he needed to and simply refused to allow Bottcher to get anything going.

Advertisement

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Article content continued

Bottcher managed single points in the fourth and ninth ends, but trailing by three points, without hammer, coming home, he had no chance.

Gushue put the stamp on his third Brier title by hitting and sticking for one in the 10th, setting off a big celebration inside Leon’s Centre, and no doubt, on the famous George Street back in St. John’s.

With everything that has gone on this week, it will surely rank up as one of the most memorable events of Gushue’s long and storied curling career.

“It means a ton to be be representing Canada again,” Gushue said. “We live in the best country in the world and the best curling nation in the world. When you get to wear that Maple Leaf, it’s a huge honour.

“We know what it takes to get there and that’s probably the biggest satisfaction in wearing it. You have to get through an event like this.”

Share this article in your social network

Share this Story: Gushue wins third Brier as Bottcher falls in final for third straight year

Trending

Related Stories

This Week in Flyers

Article Comments

Comments

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We have enabled email notifications—you will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.

Notice for the Postmedia Network

This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.